Receivers in at Aussie miner Gympie

ALTERNATIVE Investment Market-listed Australian miner Gympie Gold, which recently placed £8m of shares with British investors, today voluntarily appointed administrators and receivers after a devastating Boxing Day fire at one of its most profitable mines.

The company appointed KPMG as administrator while HSBC Precious Metals (Australia), which is the agent for its corporate loan facility, called in Ferrier Hodgson as receiver and manager.

Shares in Gympie Gold were suspended yesterday in London at 19 1/2p, down 1/2p, after the company said the fire had devastated its lucrative Southland Colliery in Hunter Valley, New South Wales. It is still burning.

'The current emergency at the Southland Colliery has caused a rapid and substantial deterioration in the group's financial position and prospects,' said Gympie managing director Harry Adams.

The incident is a critical setback for the cash-strapped group, which was trying to reduce debt and increase working capital after posting a loss of A$22.9m (£9.6m) for the year to 30 June.

Southland Colliery has the potential to generate operating cashflows of A$50m in a good year, making it the main source of cashflow for the company, which takes its name from the goldmine it operates at Gympie in southern Queensland.